By Gazette Staff
Focus Burlington was able to pull together the data needed to show what the City of Burlington tax bill will look like in June 2026.
On December 10th, 2025, Halton Regional Council approved their 2026 budget. With the Regional data now available, Focus Burlington was able to pull together the data needed to show what the City of Burlington tax bill will look like in June 2026.
There are four components to your tax bill.
The tax bill citizens get includes what the School Boards need; what the Regional government needs; what the Halton Regional Police need and what the city of Burlington needs.
There was no increase from the Boards of of Education. The amount of money needed by the Region increased by 3.3% over 2025. The Regional Police increase over 2025 was 6.4% The City of Burlington increase over the what they taxed for in 2025 was 5.8%
That bottom line: year-over-year tax increases. No shame whatsoever in producing numbers like this. They will want your vote next October.
We’ll see the total value of all the property taxes we pay, the total line on the tax bill, increase by 4.49%.
Burlington has the most significant increase, at 5.8%. Burlington’s taxes account for about half the bill. The low increase in regional taxes and the zero percent increase in education taxes reduce the total increase.
That 26.92% cumulative increase may not seem excessive – do you know anyone who got that kind of a pay increase over five years? And compare it to the cumulative 10.29% inflation increase over the same period of time. Tax increases are TWO AND A HALF TIMES MORE THAN INFLATION. And the Mayor calls the 2026 budget an inflation budget?
Halton Region is also responsible for our water bill, and we’ll see a 6% increase in our water and wastewater rates.
Here’s how the increases have looked since the 2022 municipal election.
Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator, $1,000 spent in 2022 would require $1,102.92 in 2026.
Inflation rates have been much lower than the City of Burlington tax increases. According to the Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator, $1,000 spent in 2022 would require $1,102.92 in 2026.
This box is where you get to decide if you want the same people making decisions as to how much you are going to be taxed. With a voter turnout of around 30% – 7-% of the population likes paying high taxes.
Next year is an election year. We won’t hear anything about the 2027 budget until after the elections. Burlington’s 2026 tax increase is the lowest increase we’ve had in the last four years.
Year-over-year increases compound. Burlington’s 10.21% increase in 2024 applied to the 15.59% increase in 2023.
For Burlington residents with wages, pensions, or other forms of income closely linked to inflation, the city’s year-after-year, above-inflation increases will make life in Burlington unaffordable.
Kearns: the only member of Council who voted against the budget.
Ward 2 Councillor Lisa Kearns is the only member of Council that voted against the budget.
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After a short survey that I conducted amongst like-minded friends and colleagues, I think that it will probably be quite visually attractive.
Well presented. I have a correction that should be made. Under your Compounding chart, you state that “That 26.92% cumulative increase may not seem excessive – do you know anyone who got that kind of a pay increase over five years?”
But the timeframe for the compounding is actually only four years. 2022 is the base, or starting year. The increases compound from there, in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. That is only four years. So the increases are even worse than summarized, compounding 26.9% cumulative in over just four years rather than the five years stated.
Whatever the future 2027 tax turns out to be, it can only increase the cumulative amount over five years past 26.92%. Likely somewhere over 30%.
And a further comment I’d like to add. Education taxes have been frozen by the Provincial Government for a good number of years. This has helped keep the overall tax increase down for Burlington citizens, but that can’t last forever in my opinion. The Provincial underfunding of education (zero increases in education taxes) is not based on need or improving the education of our youth. It is simply a decision of someone sitting at a desk in the Legislature to give the Department of Education no more money (not even for inflation) each year and expect better results. This way of thinking is not based on research, only rigor and it is unsustainable. So at sometime in the future we will again see increases in education taxes, adding further to our overall tax bills in Burlington. We need to realize that.
Now ask yourself, did your after tax wages increase by 44.91% since 2022? Remember that based on your income bracket you have to earn at least 20% more to end up with the after tax amount you need to pay anything that is taxed, be that gas, a vehicle a vacation and on and on.